Missouri players celebrate after beating then-No. 2 Kansas 36-28 Saturday night. After starting the season unranked, the Tigers have climbed to No. 2 in the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll and No. 1 in the AP poll.

For the first four weeks, only one top-five team in the coaches' poll lost (Michigan at No. 5). Then the tables turned:

Week, rank and team Result

5

1 Southern California

win

2 LSU

win

3 Florida

loss

4 Oklahoma

loss

5 West Virginia

loss

6

1 Southern California

loss

2 LSU

win

3 California

idle

4 Ohio State

win

5 Wisconsin

loss

7

1 LSU

loss

2 California

loss

3 Ohio State

win

4 Boston College

win

5 (tie) Oklahoma

win

5 South Florida

win

8

1 Ohio State

win

2 Boston College

idle

3 South Florida

loss

4 Oklahoma

win

5 LSU

win

9

1 Ohio State

win

2. Boston College

win

3 LSU

idle

4 Oklahoma

idle

5 Oregon

win

9

1 Ohio State

win

2 Boston College

loss

3 LSU

win

4 Oregon

win

5 Oklahoma

win

10

1 Ohio State

loss

2 LSU

win

3 Oregon

idle

4 Oklahoma

win

5 Kansas

win

11

1 LSU

win

2 Oregon

loss

3 Oklahoma

loss

4 Kansas

win

5 West Virginia

win

12

1 LSU

loss

2 Kansas

loss

3 West Virginia

win

4 Missouri

win

5 Ohio State

idle

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The vision Missouri coach Gary Pinkel had for his program when he was hired seven years ago was as clear as the crystal Big 12 North trophy he held Saturday night. Though the picture seemed blurred at times with three losing seasons in the previous six years, Pinkel never wavered, neither did his players who danced beneath the moonlight at Arrowhead Stadium after beating then-No. 2 Kansas 36-28.

One more win in the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma on Saturday in San Antonio, and the Tigers will play for their first national title in school history. Mizzou moved to No. 1 in the Bowl Championship Series standings and the Associated Press media poll Sunday, just ahead of West Virginia.

The Mountaineers crushed Connecticut 66-21 to win the Big East and rose to No. 1 in the USA TODAY Coaches' Poll, their highest ranking ever. If the Mountaineers defeat Pittsburgh on Saturday in Morgantown, they, too, will play for the national title.

As Pinkel held the rectangular crystal trophy after his team handed the Jayhawks their first loss, he looked ahead to the next goal. "Now I'd like the rounder one," he said. As in the crystal football that goes to the national champion? "I'm talking about the Big 12 championship trophy. Let's not jump the gun here."

It's hard not to, given one of the most unpredictable regular seasons in college football history. On Friday, then-No. 1 LSU lost to Arkansas 50-48 in three overtimes, the 12th time this season that a top-five team has been beaten by unranked team. In eight out of the last nine weeks, at least one team in the top three of the coaches' poll has lost. With LSU's tumble, there have been four changes at the top, which ties the most in the regular season since USA TODAY began administering the poll in 1991.

No wonder there's little certainty entering the final weekend of the season. A win against the Sooners on Saturday would give the Tigers (11-1, 7-1) their first conference title in 38 years — and some payback for their only loss of the year. But if either Missouri or West Virginia falters, BCS No. 3 Ohio State would likely claim one of the top two spots in the final BCS standings.

Missouri fittingly embodies this season of surprises given it began the year unranked. As stunning as the Tigers' rise has been, athletics director Mike Alden said the season has been more of a gradual climb. "Instead of a shooting-star type of thing, it's been more of a step-by-step process," Alden said Sunday.

Late entry into poll

After winning its first four games, Mizzou entered the polls at No. 25 on Sept. 23. Even with a loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 13, the Tigers remained in the polls. They contend they are a different team, one that plays with more emotion, since that October loss. Mizzou led the Sooners 24-23 early in the fourth quarter but were undone by turnovers before falling 41-31.

"After we lost, we weren't happy, but everyone's confidence just went up. We felt that we gave the game away," receiver Jeremy Maclin said Saturday. Six more Big 12 wins followed, including the most important one Saturday. The Tigers built a 21-0 lead behind quarterback Chase Daniel's 40-for-49 passing. The next day, the Tigers rose to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since a one-week stint in 1960, completing their climb.

Though Mizzou has been the revelation of the season, this is exactly what Pinkel imagined seven years ago when he arrived from Toledo. It is also precisely what he told seniors such as tight end Martin Rucker when he sat in their living rooms four years ago and sold them on his vision of the future.

"I had to believe what Coach Pinkel and Coach (Andy) Hill were telling me," Rucker said Saturday of his head coach and receivers coach. "If you can sit in my living room and tell my mom something well, that takes a lot of guts, you better come through. They promised we would be a high-level program in a few years, and they promised me and my mother that they would always get me the ball. So they're holding up their end of the deal."

When Pinkel, 55, was hired before the 2001 season, he left Toledo, where he was the school's all-time winningest coach, and took over a program with just two winning records in 17 seasons. Pinkel didn't realize how entrenched the negativity was surrounding the program, from alienated high school coaches to discontented fans.

"When I took this job, I knew this was going to be difficult — and that's probably an understatement," Pinkel said last week. "I had people call me up and tell me, 'What are you doing? You can get a heck of a lot better job than Missouri.' But we've stuck with our plan through the ups and downs."

The low point came in 2004 when the promise of quarterback Brad Smith fizzled into a 5-6 disappointment. At the aftermath, there were calls for Pinkel's job and, at the very least, outside pressure to shake up his staff, in particular offensive coordinator Dave Christensen. "I felt that was my worst year of coaching personally," Pinkel said. He refused to make staff changes simply to make himself look better. "There was no way in the world I was going to take a guy down just to make it look like Gary Pinkel's making this big change and, guess what, it's going to get better. I just stuck with what I believe in."

That offseason, Christensen and Pinkel explored switching to a spread offense. Now Christensen is the architect of one of the nation's most prolific attacks. Missouri is fifth in total offense with 507 yards a game, sixth in scoring at 42 points a game. Not only did Christensen stay, but so did everyone else. The staff has remained unchanged the last seven years, a rarity in a profession with continual turnover. Pinkel's contract was extended last season through 2011.

Pinkel's blueprint for success was passed on by his mentor Don James, for whom he played at Kent State and worked for as an assistant at Washington for 12 years. Though the core principles of discipline and structure remain the same, Pinkel began to change as he looked inward after the 2004 season, examining his relationship with his players. He softened his unyielding demeanor a bit. Then tragedy altered him even more after Aaron O'Neal, a 19-year-old linebacker, collapsed and died during a voluntary offseason workout in 2005.

Coach makes changes

Pinkel immersed himself in his players' lives and let his guard down. "I changed in how I communicate with players," he said. Those close to Pinkel know he's a compassionate man with a good sense of humor. The difference now is that he's letting others see it as well.

"He's become a lot more visible to us," Rucker, who had his 18th career touchdown against Kansas, said last week. "He lets us have a say in everything we do. And he's just become a lot more relaxed. Before, it was kind of like a dictatorship. Now, he's given us a lot of choices. He lets us play the game, and when guys play comfortable, that's when they play their best."

Rucker took a leap of faith first when he signed with Missouri and then last year when he decided to return for his senior year instead of turning pro. As a highly recruited senior from Benton High in St. Joseph, Mo., Rucker thought he would follow his brother Mike, a standout defensive end at Nebraska and second-round draft NFL pick who plays for Carolina, to Lincoln. Instead, he listened to Pinkel's pitch that day in his living room, surrounded by his father, Martin, a production-line mechanic for a St. Joseph container company and a second-term Democratic state representative, and mother, LaVell, who worked at home until Rucker was in high school, then earned bachelor's and master's degrees and now is a social worker.

Others believed as well. Maclin, a redshirt freshman from Kirkwood, Mo., first committed to Oklahoma because, as he said, "At the time, Oklahoma was Oklahoma. Who wouldn't want to be there?" Then he changed his mind, feeling more comfortable with the Tigers.

Overlooked by the top programs in his home state because of his size, Daniel, a 6-0, 225-pound junior from Southlake, Texas, committed to Missouri. He didn't waver after the Texas Longhorns, his favorite childhood team, came calling after one of their prospects backed out. Now he's a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy.

The players believed, their coach melted a bit and here they are at No. 1. So what does Pinkel think about this New World order? "It's good, (but) I don't know what you want me to do. I'm not going to jump up and do a back flip," Pinkel said. After all, as much as Pinkel has evolved, giddiness still has its limits. But who knows? With this season, anything can happen.

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